Live healthy - Gap in death rates

IT is a truism that if you can afford good healthcare you, in the majority of cases at least, live longer than those who cannot. 

It is also an unfortunate truism, one confirmed by the ESRI, that the gap in mortality rates across various socio- economic groups expanded during the Celtic tiger years.

The disparity between various groups can largely be explained by changes in the pattern of death by accidents, poisonings, assault or suicide, and diseases of the liver, oesophagus, etc. The report recorded that life expectancy has increased for over half a century and the rate of improvement increased during the economic boom but this pattern was not reflected equally across social groups. For example, whereas death rates among male professionals, managers and the self-employed decreased by 27% between the 1990s and 2000s, those among male working-class groups increased by 4%. Deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory causes have continued to fall across all groups.

The challenge now must be to better extend the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to all social goups.